Pages

Friday, 25 April 2014

Kaffe Fassett at the American Museum

If you are like me and you love colour, then you'll understand how excited I was to visit the Kaffe Fassett exhibition at the American Museum in Bath!

It was a dull grey rainy day but look what greeting us on arrival!

multi-coloured yarn bombing!

Outside the exhibition hall, the tree swayed in the wind with its fruit of rainbow pompoms and lightshades!

Never mind the wind and the rain, look what's up ahead!

I was so excited when I stepped inside, I didn't know what to look at first and when I heard that photography was allowed, that did it!

So what to show you first? Well this red shelf display was the first thing you see as you walk through the entrance and I found it so overwhelming I couldn't look at it for very long, so I decided to find a calmer place in the exhibition. (I'll come back and show you this properly later when I've calmed down a bit.)

So into the green room, or cabbage room. There were quite a few cabbages around in this section.

Oh now just look at that lovely cabbage painting of Kaffe's. He was originally a painter before his career went in the direction of knitting and needlepoint.

Oh now look at that bright green chair! (note to self: paint a chair green as soon as possible.)

Ah! I'm feeling calmer now I've been looking at green cabbages and flowers. I'm ready now to appreciate the subtle tones of this beautiful knitted jacket. :)

That was soothing wasn't it?

Now onto the next bit,

YELLOW!

My photo doesn't do it justice but this was like a corner of sunshine, so uplifting.

What a lovely yellow chair! (note to self: paint a chair yellow as soon as possible.)

A wall of genius Kaffe quotes. :)

I love this glass cabinet display, blues, pinks, reds...

...mauves, a touch of green

and his lovely painting of vases that hung nearby, echoing the colours in the cabinet. :)

A couple of glorious quilts.

I love that blue chair. It was actually a beautiful shade of deep turquoise in real life and I knew there and then that I have to paint a chair a deep turquoise as soon as possible!

This cabinet of reds was a feast to behold.

So too the knitted throw.

So now we've been around the exhibition, lets have another look at the first display again.

The shelves are painted red and yes, one day I will paint shelves red.

There were his fabric designs, spools of yarn, samples of quilting and embroidery, ribbons, beads and painting and books.

So much visual information I still found it difficult to take it all in!

Then my eyes rested on this quiet little basket. I know and recognise this, it feels like home to me :)

(To see the details displayed more clearly 'right click' on the photo to open it.)

I was on a proper high after seeing this exhibition. Colour has a more of a profound effect on me than I thought

and this was an explosion of colour!

PS. I was so excited that I left my umbrella there by mistake and it was raining.

27 comments:

Oh my ...OH MY! :))) I am completely and utterly as excited as you are...I can't even imagine seeing all of this gorgeousness in person! As soon as I saw your post, Jess, I immediatelty Googled this artist...what an extraordinary, brilliant man!How thrilling that you were able to see this wonderful exhibit....

Hee heee...the chairs made me giggle....:))) I think it would be fun to have the dining room chairs painted in different colors...hmmmm....I may just have to do that... Thank you so very much for sharing this gem!And a big thank you for your visit... :) Always so lovely to see a message from you....Have a beautiful and creative weekend, sweet friend!xoxo,- Irina

Oh my ...OH MY! :))) I am completely and utterly as excited as you are...I can't even imagine seeing all of this gorgeousness in person! As soon as I saw your post, Jess, I immediatelty Googled this artist...what an extraordinary, brilliant man!How thrilling that you were able to see this wonderful exhibit....

Hee heee...the chairs made me giggle....:))) I think it would be fun to have the dining room chairs painted in different colors...hmmmm....I may just have to do that... Thank you so very much for sharing this gem!And a big thank you for your visit... :) Always so lovely to see a message from you....Have a beautiful and creative weekend, sweet friend!xoxo,- Irina

All I can say is wow. Thanks for sharing this fabulous exhibit. His works and fabric is viery popular here in my town. I love his bright colors and use of the fabric in all his work. Have a wonderful week end. I am inspired and need to get my sewing machine moving .

Ohhhhh Jess, when I read "colour" and "kaffe Fassett" I went to your post at once !!!!!!!You could get drunk of all this colour !Saw his work ages ago in the Textile Museum in Tilburg/Holland and loved it ever since.Love to look at the books I have of him, just to get some bright colour !

Can't begin to thank you Jess!! Thank you, thank you for this wonderful post! I adore Kaffe, and have coveted his work in all its forms since I first discovered it as a teenager ( Many moons ago) His work speaks to my soul.... it is truly wondrous. I recently discovered his Glorious colour tv series repeated on channel 4 on demand and loved re-watching. I am now going to do a bit of pondering on whether I am able to tke a little trip to Bath.....hmmmmmmm, :)

if the photo's are already that overwhelming i have a slight idea how it must be in the real.what to say...the man has color running through his vains, clever designs (i love the patches that look like bees in that quilt).i can easily understand your excitement Jessie,thanks for showing , have a colorful weekend, x

Wow, that's really a festoval of colors! KF really is a genius! I find beautiful fabric so inspiring and often dream of having my own home-collection one day ;) Thank you also for the lovely comment on my Yoga illustration. I did look at your tree pose picture - so sweet and just great for a childrens Yoga class. The brightly colored socks and the cat - gorgeous!Cheers to a happy weekend - hopefully the sun will show up!xx

Oh Jessica, thanks so much for showing this. I looooove it! I have always been attracted by strong colours, they make me happy, and seeing these pictures was like being in colour heaven :-) I love the selection of his quotes, and that multi-coloured yarn bombing ... sigh. Might have to buy one of his books ....

About Me

I'm an artist and illustrator living in beautiful South Devon near the sea.
I love to be surrounded with colour in my home and of course in my artwork too! I hope you enjoy your visit to my blog. Do leave a comment if you feel inclined, I love to hear from you.x